Castellet castle

Introduction

The headquarters of the abertis foundation are
housed in the Castellet castle, a fortress dating back more than 2500
years which is located in a privileged nature spot: Foix natural Park, which
belongs to the town of Castellet i la Gornal in the Barcelona county of Alt
Penedès.

Thanks to archaeological remains we know that the first fortress dates back
to the Iberian period. The castle formed an ideal lookout to control and oversee
major transportation routes such as the Foix river, Via Heraclia and, subsequently,
Via Augusta, which is currently the AP-7 motorway. There is very little known
about the history of the castle during that period owing to the lack of written
records, except that is was still occupied from the Ibero-Roman period to
the era of the counts and it underwent some refurbishment during the Andalusian
period.

The first known record of the castle dates back to 977. The fortress was
of major strategic importance until the 16th century. From then onwards, the
castle went through a number of periods of decadence until falling into ruin.
Towards the end of the 1920s work began on the restoration of the castle,
making it possible to recover the structure of certain parts of the castle
such as the central and western areas. However, it was not until abertis took
possession of the fortress in 1999 that work began to restore the castle back
to its original appearance.

At present, the castle has regained its former structure and areas. In order
to fulfil its new functions as the headquarters of the abertis
foundation, the refurbished castle has been divided into two areas:
the building of history and the building of knowledge. The former is located
on the old 11th century castle and comprises the halls built during the 1928-1930
restoration in neo-medieval style. This part of the building houses an exhibition
depicting the history of the castle from its origin to the present day. The
building of knowledge, which is entirely newly built, occupies the area and
size of the palace built in the 13th and 14th centuries. It houses several
halls suitable for meetings, conferences and other events. Stored beneath
this building are the remains of the fortress as it stood in the Ibero-Roman
period.

As well as laying tribute to its past, the new use for the castle has shown
that the building constitutes an invigorating sight in its setting, as well
as being a paradigm for sustainable management.